Jakarta. Energy giant Pertamina remained in talks with the privately owned MedcoEnergi on jointly producing bioethanol, its top brass said Wednesday, amid plans to revive the latter’s facility.

Indonesia has been pivoting to food crops to cut its energy imports, among others, by making sugarcane-based bioethanol. Pertamina, which commands a lion’s share of the country’s energy market, is also tapping the bioethanol business. It already sells a molasses-based gasoline dubbed the Pertamax Green 95 at its pumps. Pertamina's senior vice president for business development Ary Kurniawan, however, denied that the company’s private counterparts were left out of the bioethanol opportunities.

“We are actually open to the private sector in the bioethanol field. We are in discussions with Medco,” Ary told the Investor Daily Summit in Jakarta.

While Ary kept the details scant during the forum, the two sides had already inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in early 2026. 

Pertamina at the time said that the document's scope included “exploring plans to reactivate” Medco’s now-shut bioethanol plant in Lampung. Local news outlets wrote that MedcoEnergi had to shut down the facility over a decade ago, citing lack of sugarcane molasses and cassava feedstock. 

Medco is Indonesia’s largest listed private oil company. Its production averaged 156 mboepd throughout 2025, its annual report showed.

Earlier that day, Chief Energy Transition Minister Bahlil Lahadalia confirmed that Indonesia remained unbudged on its plans to gradually increase the mandatory bioethanol blend. An E5 policy, meaning a 5% bioethanol content level, is now in effect. Indonesia seeks to move up to E20 by 2028, said Bahlil, while floating plans to raise the blend to a whopping 50%.

“We should be able to keep gasoline imports as little as possible with E50 in place. … Look at other countries like Brazil, whose [cars] are already running on pure hydrous ethanol in some states,” Bahlil said.

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